Author's note Draft 2
If the story does not say draft 2, it's not the final draft
As you can see from the last chapter, all my character names have meaning, so look them up.
Next is I am on Wattpad as England1412, so this story is on there with pictures of how I'm seething.
Also, I am from New Orleans and I realize that New Orleans people have an accent. And because we have an accent, I want to write all my characters with the accent of where they come from or some words they use.
Last thing, I was very, very sad that nobody told me to hurry up an update. I will not rush a chapter, but I would have tried harder to get the chapter out faster. I am one of those authors that are easily put off things at the last minute. Furthermore, I am the type of person who writes a bunch of details about the story I want to write, but takes a long time to put into the paper.
When I do take this long, the chapter will be very long by my standards.
But before I forget, let me thank SuuItosukaiy, Rayakashi, lastrap60, Duhsui, Campiongirl16, YekisaKura22, Madam3Mayh3m, and Cloesome for following me even when I am not updating.
And the same thank you to Rayakashi, Author's note Draft 2
If the story does not say draft 2, it's not the final draft
As you can see from the last chapter, all my character names have meaning, so look them up.
Next is I am on Wattpad as England1412, so this story is on there with pictures of how I seething.
Also, I am from New Orleans and I realize that New Orleans people have an accent. And because we have an accent, I want to write all my characters with the accent of where they come from or some words they use.
The last thing I was very, very sad that nobody told me to hurry up an update. I will not rush a chapter, but I would have tried harder to get the chapter out faster. I am one of those authors that are easily put off things at the last minute. I am the type of person who writes a bunch of details about the story I want to write, but takes a long long time to put into the paper.
When I do take this long the chapter will be very long by my standards.
But before I forgets let me thank SuuItosukaiy, Rayakashi, lastrap60, Duhsui, Campiongirl16, YekisaKura22, Madam3Mayh3m, and Cloesome for following me even when I am not updating.
And the same thank you to Rayakashi, Lastrap60, Lobalunallena, Madam3Mh3m* for Favoring me even when I am not updating.
Edited on 10/25/21
Edited on 2/8/22
Life Worth 0
XIII-XIV
XIII (Tuesday 13th of August 1957. Louis house. New Orleans, United States of America)
As a child in my life as Ivory, I used to go to my Dad for an understanding of the world. One thing I always ask him about is why do sometimes the weather makes me feel sad. And he would tell me a lot of different things each time. One time I ask him "Why does the gray sky make me feel so weighty."
And he said "Well, do you have any problems "
And as a kid, I would wonder how he knew I was having a problem and be astounded by how well he knew me. But As I grow it was my way of asking him for help. He would say" Day in New Orleans, where the sky is covered with gray clouds with no sun is seen, makes a person feel as any problem they are having is immense than they think. But in true.. It's not... So do not think it immense then it Is." Furthermore, I would try to hold on to his knowledgeable words.
But Dad is not here anymore to tell me a new answer to why the gray sky makes me feel distraught.
Well, sitting on a wooden crate in Louis start to molding, living room and eat out of a can for breakfast will not give me the answer I seek. So I've gathered up my courage and ask him.
"Dad... Can I...I mean..." I steeled myself "Dad, " I strengthen the grip I had on my can "I want to tell Andrei about the Community "?
The moment after asking him the question, Louis just gave me this expression as if he didn't understand what I was asking. And when he did his face when all neutral.
"Louise," He said, "Will you be marring Andrei"
"Well, no," I said, giving him this confident look.
"Then your answer is no," He said putting down his empty can while not looking me in the face.
"But why, " Now I started to get angry that he was not giving me a straight answer.
"Louise," He said, still not looking me in the face.
"I will go now," He said, now standing up with Luthor's leather backpack on his back.
As he starts to move forward, the front door, I noticed that he didn't pack his lunchbox today.
Louis POV
"I hope it does not rain today," I said, looking that the gray sky.
'Louise' I think rubbing the back of my head.
'You might be the most intelligent of all my children, but I sometimes don't give where this habit of bling yourself of some fact of the world come from... It's not the time to not see fully like that right now. There is work to be done, I think while shaking my head.
'Why did Louis ask me that' I think while getting up from my seat and grabbing Louis's can for me to put in the can in the garbage.
"Louise, do you understand why Dad asks you that?"Luthor's word stopped me in my tracks. And making a turn my body back in his direction.
"No, why," I said now give him my full attention.
"Louise when you were three the Government rounded up people because they thought a lot of them were communist. Our cousin Elu meet a man at the time named Jame. Now how these two things are connected is because Elu, later on, became pregnant for Jame. But Jame works for the government. And when one of Jame's bosses accuses Jame of being a communist everybody he was in contact with was investigated. And that in included Elu. " As Luthor continues to speak, his eyes became emptier and emptier.
"When mom heard of Jame being accused she knew what was most likely to happen next. And because of that, she knew, would have to make a decision. Mom calls Elu up to the house when she knew what she was going to do next. Mom decided was for Elu to move out of the community and the neighborhood. And to move her into the Sixth ward where the only time she sees members is when we go visit her."
"But why... Is not the investigation, " I said now giving up from set upset on Elu's behalf.
"No Elu will probably be under investigation for a long time," Luthor said now give up from his seat.
"But that still doesn't answer why Louis ask me that," I said now I'm trying to draw the connection.
"The connection you are trying to find is that you had to make a decision between the community and Andrei," He said pasting me up in the garbage.
And as he passes me up it felt like he was trying to tell me more.
Giving to the meeting place and waiting for Andrei. I sat down on the sidewalk thought about what Andrei told me about where the government help is set up and why we are meeting before our usual time.
Andrei basically told me that the help set up was on.
"Backatown," He said as we start to walk. We go to be walking for miles.
"Is it...I think we will be needing something before we go, " I said as I turn from the directions he told me and start to walk to where I know there a golfing track is.
Luthor Pov
High up unseen on the house to the back of them set Luthor with one leg swinging back and forth on the edge of the house.
'What is this girl doing' I think as I watch these children walk away from their meetup place.
'And where she's going now' I thought 'Do you not like to go straight home after meeting up with this boy'.
"And that look on her face... I don't like it" it means that she's planning something and when that girl planned something, it's not always as fun for her as she thinks it would be or safe for her.
"All right.. They have gotten far enough," he says as he got up to follow them. 'She should really start looking up if she ever goes to ditch me and I should be more careful with these houses with this wind tonight. ' I thought as I almost fell off the house with the wind blowing towards me the way it is. As I thought this was one of the shingles I step in the fall of the house. Normally this would have not been a big deal because she never noticed sounds like that, but that boy she's sure did notice because he stopped her.
Andrei POV
As we walk to our destination I couldn't but help that notice the sound of something behind us and realize we are being followed. Even with the sounds of the wind tonight covering up most of the noise I can still hear the sound of footsteps.
"Louise... We being followed. " After I said that she stops, which made me stop. Then she starts to look around. Making me do the same, but at some point, she started to look at a high place. When she spotted the follower she tilted her head, making me look that way.
Louise had this look on her face I have never seen before. She must have known who it was because she turned around and kept walking to our destination.
Louise POV
As I drive me and Andrei out of the Bayou oaks golf center in the golf car I had hot-wired using the knowledge that dad had taught me, I thought back on seeing Luthor.
*Flashback*
As Andrei and I look around at the black empty streets not see anyone but I trusted Andre. I realize that not everybody would use the street to follow someone.
And I look up and started to search the houses around us for a human figure.
And there he was three to the house on the left of us.
Luthor... The one that taught me how to jump from tree to tree in the Bayou to always make sure I knew I had a path that eventually helps me to do the same thing on houses.
So this is the reason I could never find him after I became aware of him follow me around. That was smart of him to use human nature against me. Nobody ever looks up.
Tilting my head, I thought about my decisions. Should I go with my plan to break into that golfing Center and still a go-kart or no... Change it to a different time will do me no good, so I just shake the thought off.
No, let him see what we do. We need to do this now, while we still have the time.
Having made my decision I turned around and kept walking.
*Flashback End*
As I passed the house Luthor was sitting I picked up the speed and threw one hand in the air waving goodbye.
Now that I know his game is easier to spot him.
"Make sure you have time for the next couple of days... During the day to be able to go check out the government settlement," I said changing some plans in my head.
"Right boss," he says, throwing his hands behind his head leaning back in his seat. When he does that he looks like the Andrei I met all the months ago. The boy who looks like he has no problems in the world with a lot more smiles.
I don't know if I should miss that boy because the person who is sitting right next to me now is not that person anymore. And I don't know if I should let that go. But those are thoughts for another time. Now is the time to enjoy myself with our sweet new ride.
'Boss huh... I like the sound of that, I thought speeding up faster now with the wind blowing into my face with a smile on my face joying the moment.
In the future, I will look back on moments like these and wonder if we will ever be truly carefree like this again doing crimes.
XIV (Tuesday 20th of August 1957. Downtown. Duncan Plaza. New Orleans, United States of America)
The past week had been odd for me. It feels like my family had been walking on eggshells with each other.
After stealing the go-kart I have thought Luthor would tell Ista and Louis and I would have a problem in my hand. But Luthor didn't. The only thing Luthor has been doing is watching me more closely and because he doing that it was hard to do things under his nose. And because he didn't go tell on me, I have been a little worried. Ok, maybe not a little worried, but I am not concerned a much to confront him. So Luthor and I have been having a little cold war, where he followed me around when I am to meet up with Andrei and I would look for his hiding place. And when I find him I would stare him down while talking to Andrei about history, astronomy, and when he asked I have started to teaching him languages.
But Luthor is not the only person in my family I have been having problems with.
Since me asking Louis about the community, Louis has been a little stand-offish. Not to the point where he is rude or means to me, but the point that the socialites feeling he put off is not there when talking to each other.
And when Louis, Luthor, and me when back to the community that Saturday and Sunday thing became kind of worse.
When we got back to the community Louis asks Ista to speak alone in her office. That action told Halona, Neil, and Lynda that something was not right.
Before the three could start asking questions I distracted them by asking any one of them to want to go check out my Treehouse. It didn't realize work since the three I ask to give me a look that said they know what I am doing, but luckily for me Neil and Lynda let it go. While Halona when other to Luthor, who was lean against a tree a couple of feet away from us watching me deal with their attention.
See her do this I started to walk in the directions of where my Treehouse lies, with the other two following behind me.
When we got father enough Neil spoke up, " You do know that we will find out later right." It irked me since he said it in a way that told me that he felt what I was doing and how I was handling things funny to him.
And Lynda made a humming sound that told me she kind of agreed with his statement.
The trip to the Treehouse was not all that dangerous, as I thought it would be. But that may be because we when by tree made it easier and harder for us. It was easy because we had a path that did not have crocodiles scattered around to attack us and we did not have to swim too. It was harder because we have to find a tree to jump on and that didn't look like it would break on us while holding our weight.
Halfway to the Treehouse, I told them that sometime in the future we will be building platforms and leather bridges on the trees to get across since we won't have a problem like this again.
When we got to the Treehouse it was halfway submerged. It was not all that surprising that it was submerged because the Treehouse was in the deepest part of the bayou where was more water than land.
Since it would be probably better to wait for the not to be so submerged into the water, we left it for another time and went back to the house.
When we got back to Ista's house, it was a little after 4 o'clock.
My family sat down for a late lunch. While we were eating I noticed the sad look Halona keep sending me. Through that action, I knew Luthor did not tell her about the go-kart, if he had told Halona she wouldn't have not been seeing me look, she would have exploded on me with anger as soon as she saw me. Not unlike Ista who exploded on me in fury, so I knew she did not know either.
'What are you playing at Luthor' I thought as Louis announced that he found the parts he needed for the water cleaner. Making everybody who did not know about it relieve that we will have clean water soon.
His next announcement made all that relief go away, make the room go quiet into alarm.
Louis announced was that the community will be going into stage yellow.
The stages are a system Louis came up with that will tell the community what they going to be doing
Stage blue is life as normal.
Stage green is when the members who stay in the neighborhood stay in the neighborhood and the members who stay in the community stay in the community with mostly no contact with each other.
Stage yellow is when everybody is in the community and anybody who goes out of the community Land gets only a limited time outside.
Stage Orange is when everybody is told to go hide and the deeper part of the bayou land usually means we're under worsening suspicion.
Stage red means we're on the run from the government now so go to the safe places that have already been planned out.
As you must expect that didn't sit well with me and my plans.
But what truly made it worse was Neil.
After Louis's statement, Halona asks why. Louis then when on about my action and how it shows that I am not taking the safety of the community as seriously as I used to. But then Neil asks if this was about me not showing signs of not wanting to stay after I was of age to leave. When Ista and Louis did not answer fast a much for Neil's liking, Neil's face became all indifferent and the next statement came out a little spiteful.
"Louise is not Halona and I am not Luthor, who are satisfied with this lifestyle and Lynda will probably follow after Louise so don't expect her to stay either."
Before Ista and Louis can say anything to that I ask about what I will do next week.
Andrei POV
The last three days had been strange with Louise.
When she came back from where her family raises her to stay as she was different.
Instead of her's somewhat quiet confidence, she was anxious. Even with her trying to hide it was very obvious because she kept checking on the go-kart and making sure we have enough containers.
When she first told me to start looking for containers such as wooden boxes. It was understandable because the government workers had been handing out bags that could easily rip. But when she asked for at least ten of them it got me confused.
When I asked about them, she said " We need as much as we can give, because I have a lot more than my family to feed."
After her shading that it reminded me about her.
Neighbors and how it acts like my neighborhood. She just adds another clue to the puzzle that she and her family had become for me.
After that, though I point out the problem of the boxes falling out of the go-kart if opening in the back and side of the kart.
She then when on to sit there for a moment, got up, and told me, she would start fixing that the next day. And start the walkway toward the way to her neighborhood.
Before she could give father away from me, I ask why she leaves so early because it was only 3:00 and we only got here a few minutes ago and start planning out the thing we need around 2:30.
She said that her family is going through something and she for the time being will have to give back to Louis's house before four o'clock.
There is another slip-up and clue.
But not Delvin on that too much at the moment I asked her why she leaving so early then. She explained to me that it takes a while to get there by walking.
I understand that as it takes me a while to give here too, where we stashed the go-kart. Louise stashed them story land in the city park. When we first stashed it here she said nobody will notice it there because of all other things in Storyland.
As if think something she told me to try to start coming around 1:00 because as she explains in the next few seconds, it will be the best time to give things done in the next few days.
After telling her goodbye, I start to take my time and think about how Louise act that day.
For the most part, she was normal but with the little inconsistencies that showed me, she was not. Like how normal she would talk my ear off with a lot of topics that are all connected somehow, but today she only talks history and a little astronomy while staring at one spot. When I tried to look at the same spot I couldn't see what she was looking at... What caught her attention.
When I got home, I ask my dad for time off around 1:00 and 3:00 if I do extra work. He's surprisingly agreed.
The next day when I Goten to the meeting place Louise was really there putting somewhat sturdy wooden boards on the kart, patent up most of the spaces but leaving an opening.
She was so consecrated on her test she didn't even hear me coming up to her. She only notices me when I sat down three of the containers we needed. The look on her reminded me of this look dad would give when he is stressed.
I didn't know what was stressing her out, but I know that I need to give her mind off it. So before she could start talking not with this boring tone in her voice about history. I ask her to teach me Spanish. I thought she was going to question it, but she didn't. I didn't really mind learning it because it could become useful for something later.
By the time it was 3 o'clock I have left a few times to get more of the wooden boxes and help Louise with the part she could not do. When we were going to go out separate ways she asked me to come back around the same time the next day.
That was yesterday. We spent yesterday riding around in the go-kart and working out most of the kinks to it. And working on a path to give to and from Downtown Duncan.
Now today waiting for Louise to come back from looking for a way in the way without being spotted.
I am glad that she give me some more cold-type clothes with how the wind is blowing today.
I do not know if I should be happy or mad at myself for not planning more for this day. But I do know I will not make the same mistakes I am learning today.
My first was not even happening, that same day. My first mistake was not thinking about how much time I will have to do everything I need to do today.
The day before riding around with Andrei makes out a path makes me realize that we will need to take longer roots than I preview plan before.
That night when I filter out how Luthor has been following me around I knew that I would have to change the plan with Andrei and I doing everything in the night. At the time I thought it would not be that much of a problem because I could just spend so much of my time planning things out to do it in the daytime.
Things like how the government workers do things. How many are there working at a time? Where the guard is at all times. Were they giving things out to the citizens. Where they are storing things. Who watches the shoring. And so much more.
Well, Louis screwed up those plans.
The time in stage yellow Louis gives me was twelve o'clock to five o'clock give about at most five hours to get things done. Now do not think that lot of time, because it's not.
First takes in the hour it takes me to get to story land in the city pack. It will take us two hours to give back to story land. It will at the least take me an hour to get back to Louis's place. So that gives Andrei and me an hour to do things.
Right now hiding under this green army truck waiting for these workers to stop talking and move. Make me realize that our problem will not have that hour either.
That realization makes me realize that I need to find another way out of under this thuck.
Moving a little to the right to see if they can hear me, I stop to hear their reaction. When there were none I start to move some more. When I finally got to the other side of the truck I look to see if anybody is coming. See no one I got from under the thuck as quietly as I can silence, remembering the guys on the other side of the truck.
I am lucky that I was close to the store area and they didn't make it too complicated to get around.
Giving in was not hard after I walk around most of the area. They're a big tent in front where they are giving out food, to its left look to be a bathroom tent and right was two army truck.
Pass the bathroom there two more thuck, one behind and one to the left of it. Looking through the gape of the trucks, I think I found the tent where they sleep, so I passed them and caught on walking.
Keeping in the street I was on I passed one more thick. When I got to the next thuck I heard coils and got under the truck.
Now being the side of the truck I can see there is a guard on duty for the stage.
See this I got back under the truck to wait for the group of guys to move. While waiting I was looking around to give me away to give around that guard.
And that's when noted that behind the store there is only one tack left.
When the group finally moves I wait some more to make sure they were gone. As sure as I can be left from under the dock and start to run to the closest building.
As I was running I was using the building as cover and make my way back to Andrei.
Andrei Pov
As I pull up to where we put the kart I noted that someone was sitting on a wagon. But seeing that this person looks much like Louise I didn't try to drive away.
When I stop Louise got off the kart and walk up to the guy. They exchange a few words, then she turns and said "Andrei meet my brother Luthor, Luthor meet my best friend Andrei... Him here to help me bring my half home."
As Luthor and I walk back to Louis's house with Luthor pulls the wagon of the nine containers. I could not help but think back to the expression Andrei have in his eyes and how easy it was for me to read them and how pretty color they are.
It's a shame that Andrei will choose to cover his eyes one day to the point that their pretty color will be lost.
Author's note:
The next update will be before the 30th